Astralis chairman tried to create a new competitor to CSGO

Nikolaj Nyholm, former Astralis CEO and current Astralis Group chairman, had planned to raise funds in order to create an esports-ready competitive shooter title, according to a source close to the situation.

Registered in late September, the original venture was named Scattershot Ltd. before the sudden withdraw of Nyholm’s partner, CS 1.6 creator Minh Le left the planned fundraising venture while the programmer finishes development on Plan 8, the next game from Black Desert Online developer Pearl Abyss.

It was originally unclear as to whether Nyholm would continue on what was to be a first-person shooter on par with Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Riot Games’ Valorant. According to another filing by Nyholm on October 7, the tech entrepreneur registered Scattershot Project B, a subsidiary of Scattershot Limited.

Nyholm is listed as the company’s sole director and owns a total of 75% of the company’s shares. While Scattershot Ltd. only claimed 100 GBP in capital, Nyholm ensured that he retained a majority of Project B’s voting shares. Counter-Strike co-creator Le has since made clear that he is no longer involved in the Scattershot project.

Astralis co-founder planned to create a first-person shooter esports title

Astralis may be on shaky ground despite the organization’s ESL Pro League Season 12 win in September.

With Astralis consolidating its holdings by rebranding League of Legends team Origen and pro-FIFA Esports roster Future FC under the Astralis name, it’s likely hoping to use its name as figurative collateral in exchange for sponsorship deals.

It makes sense for the Astralis co-founder to look for other avenues. Astralis has given ground since its initial offering in December 2019.

Despite an initial price of close to 9DKK, share prices have almost halved since Astralis’ IPO, closing at 4.77DKK on October 9.

Adding in another first-person shooter to an already crowded landscape would have been hard to pull off, but given Nyholm’s history of success while a member of Danish venture capital firm Sunstone Capital, fans of the Danish team shouldn’t sleep on the experienced investor.